Day after day,
 hour after hour,
 we weigh the costs, 
 ponder the benefits
 and calculate the risks.
  
             Most of the time,
             we do this automatically,
             without conscious thought.
  
 But then, sometimes,
 we find ourselves overwhelmed.
 So, we throw up our hands
 and refuse to choose at all!
  
 Well, if this happens to be 
 your current state of mind,
 today’s passage from the Book of Sirach
 is here at your rescue!
  
 It reminds that, ultimately,
 there is but one decision,
  decision alone 
 that truly matters:
  
 “God sets before you life and death.
 Stretch out your hand…
 whichever one you choose will be given to you.”
  
 How does this play out in ordinary life?
 Well, according to Sirach,
 it comes down to following the Commandments
  
 The passage goes on to say:
 If you choose, 
 you can keep the commandments.
 they will save you.
 If you trust in God, 
 you shall live.
  
 In other words,
 beneath all our decisions,
 —be they large or small—
 a fundamental, foundational choice
 is at work. 
  
 To illustrate this,
 let me tell you a story.
  
 When I was a boy,
 my grandmother lived on a farm 
 across the road from ours.
 Like all grandmothers,
 she was the best grandmother 
 in all the world.
  
 Each day, my brothers and I 
 would help her feed her sheep 
 and care for her chickens.
 She gave us home-baked cookies,
 abundant kindness
 and we loved her very much.
  
 Then came the day that we learned
 that she was coming to live with us.
 This was wonderful news!
 But, sadly, soon after she moved in with us,
 my brothers and I realized 
 why she was no longer living 
 in her own house:
 she was losing her memory.
  
 In a relatively short time,
 she no longer recognized us.
 She grew anxious
 She began to ask about her parents. 
 Some days she would cry 
 Some days she would try to run away.
  
 Over time, her physical abilities began to wane.
 She was confined to a bed and had to be fed.
  
 She could still speak, but 
 the words she spoke 
 were in German,
 the language of her childhood.
  
 She was confused and fearful
 and surrounded by virtual strangers.
 We were her family,
 yet she neither understood
 nor recognized any of us.
  
 On the night that my grandmother died,
 my mother did an amazing thing.
 She took a small crucifix which hung on the wall
 and gave it to my grandmother.
  
 My grandmother’s eyes softened with relief
 when she saw it.
 With a trembling hand,
 she reached for the cross.
  
 It was the one thing that she recognized.
 She held the cross next to her heart.
 She held it close…and did not let go
 until she passed 
  
 ***
  
 My friends,
 our lives are filled with decisions.
 Most are small and routine.
 Some are significant and memorable.
  
 Yet, beneath all the choices we make,
 —whether they be made in passing 
 or with prayerful pondering—
 there lies but one choice,
 one, fundamental choice:
             to live for oneself…
                                     or to live for God.  
  
 “We adore you, O Christ, 
 and we praise you!
 Because, by your holy Cross, 
 you have redeemed the world.”